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II. 

PAPERS 

RELATING TO 



i fml Irttlemrnt at dDnonbaga, 



THE DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS AT SAUNA. 



2tano 1655-S. 



Tffcrt- 



E 
,058 LET 



VOYAGE OF FATHER SIMON IE MOINE 

TO THE COUNTRY OF THE IROQUOIS ONONDAGOES, IN JULY, AUGUST 
AND SEPTEMBER, 1654. 

[Relation de la N. France es annees, 1653 and 1654.] 

On the second day of the month of July, the festival of the Visi- 
tation of the Most Holy Virgin always friendly to our underta- 
kings, Father LeMoine departed from Quebec on a voyage to the 
Iroquois Onondagoes. He passed Three Rivers, and from thence 
by Montreal, where a young man of good courage, and an old 
habitant, joined him, with much piety. I shall follow the Fa- 
ther's Journal for greater facility. 

On the 17th day of July, St. Alexis' day, we left home with 
this great and holy traveller, and departed for a land unknown 
to us. On the 18th, following always the course of the River 
St. Lawrence, we met nothing but breakers and impetuous ra- 
pids, all strewed with rocks and shoals. 

The 19th. This river grows wider and forms a lake, agreea- 
ble to the view, from eight to ten leagues in length. At night, 
an army of troublesome musquitoes foreboded the rain which 
poured down on us the whole of the night. To be in such cir- 
cumstances without any shelter except the trees, which Nature 
has produced ever since the creation of the w r orld, is a pastime 
more innocent and agreeable than could be anticipated. 

20th. Nothing but islands, in appearance the most beautiful, 
which intersect here and there this very quiet river. The land 
on the north bank appears to us excellent ; there is a range of 
high mountains towards the east, which we called St. Margaret's. 

21st. Continuation of the islands. In the evening we break 
3 



34 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT OXONDAGA, 

our 1 ark cai:oe ; it rains all night. The naked rocks serve us 
for bed, mattrass and all. Whoever hath God with hiin reputes 
quietly every where. 

22d. The precipices of water which for a w-hile are no longer 
navigable oblige us to carry on our shoulders both our baggage 
and the canoe which carried us. At the other side of the Rapid, 
1 perceived a herd of wild cows which were passing at their ease 
in great state. Five or six hundred are seen sometimes in these 
regions in one drove. 

23d and 24th of the month. Our pilot being hurt, we must 
remain a prey to the musquito, s, and have patience, often more . 
difficult in regard to the inconveniences which have no inter- 
mission neither night nor day, than to behold de .th before one's 
eyes. 

25th. The river is so very rapid that we are obliged to throw 
ours« Ives in the stream to drag our canoe after us, amid the 
rocks, as a cavalier, dismounting, leads his horse by the bridle. 
At night we arrive at the entrance of Lake St. Ignatiu%, in which 
eels abound in a prodigious quantity. 

26th. A high wind with rain forces us to debark, after having 
made four leagues. A hut is soon built. The neighbouring trees 
are stript of their bark ; this is thrown on poles set in the ground 
on either side, bringing them together in the form of an arbor ; 
and then our house is built. Ambition finds no entrance into 
this palace. It failed not to be as agreeable to us as if the roof 
was all covered w T ith gold. 

27th. We coasted along the shores of the lake ; they are 
rocks on one side and the other, of an immense height, now 
frightful, now pleasing to the sight. It is wonderful how large 
trees can find root among so many rocks. 

28th. Thunder, lightning and a deluge of rain oblige us to 
shelter ourselves under our canoe, which being inverted, serves 
us for a house. 

29th and 30th July. A rain storm continues, which arrests us 
at the entrance of a great lake, called Ontario. We call it the 
Lake of the Iroquois, because they have their villages on the 
south side there. The Hurons are on the other shore, farther on 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 35 

in the interior. This lake is twenty leagues wide ; its length 
about forty. 

31st. St. Ignatius' day. The rain and storm force us to seek 
for lost roads. We cross long islands, carrying our bagage, 
provisions and canoe on our shoulders. The road seems long to 
a poor weary man. 

On the first day of the month of August, some Iroquois fisher- 
men having perceived us from a distance, get together to receive 
us. One of them runs towards us, advancing a half a league to 
communicate the earliest news and the state of the country. It is 
a Huron prisoner, and a good Christian, whom I formerly in- 
structed during a winter that I passed among the savages. 
This poor lad could not believe that it was he whom he never 
hoped to see again. We disembarked at a little village of fisher- 
men. They crowd as to who shall carry our bagage. But alas! 
they are apparently only Huron squaws, and for the most part 
Christian women, formerly rich and at their ease, whom cap- 
tivity has reduced to servitude. They requested me to pray to 
God, and I had the consolation to confess there at my leisure 
Hostagehtak, our antient host of the Petun Nation. His senti- 
ments and devotion drew tears from my eyes ; he is the fruit of 
the labors of Father Charles Gamier, that holy missionary whose 
death has been so precious before God. 

The second day of August. We walked about twelve to fif- 
teen leagues in the woods. We camp where the day closes. 

The 3d. At noon we find ourselves on the bank of a river, one 
hundred or one hundred and twenty paces wide, beyond which 
there was a hamlet of fishermen. An Iroquois w T hom I at one 
time had treated kindly at Montreal, put me across in his canoe, 
and through respect carried me on his shoulders, being unwilling 
to suffer me to wet my feet. Every one received me with joy, 
and these poor people enriched me from their poverty. I was 
conducted to another village a league distant, where there was a 
young man of consideration who made a feast for me because I 
bore his father's name, Ondessonk. The Chiefs came to harangue 
us, the one after the other. I baptized little skeletons who 



36 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONONDADA, 

awaited, perhaps, only this drop of the precious blood of Jesus 
Christ. 

4th. They ask rue why we are dressed in black 1 and I take 
occasion to speak to them of our mysteries with great attention. 
They bring me a little moribund whom I call Dominick. The 
time is passed when they used to hide the little innocents from 
us. They took me for a great Medicine-man, having no other 
remedy for the sick but a pinch of sugar. We pursued our route 
— in the middle of which we found our dinner waiting for us. 
The nephew of the first Chief of the country, who is to lodge me 
in his cabin, is deputed by his uncle to escort us, bringing us 
every delicacy that the season could afford, especially new corn 
bread, and ears (of corn) which we had roasted at the fire. We 
slept again that day by the beautiful light of the stars. 

5th. We had to make four leagues before arriving at the prin- 
cipal Onondaga village. There is nothing but comers and goers 
on the road who come to salute me. One treats me as brother ; 
another as uncle — never did I have such a number of relations. 
A quarter of a league from the village I began a harangue, which 
gained me much credit. I named all the Chiefs, the families and 
persons of note in a drawling voice and with the tone of a chief. 
I told them that Peace walked along with me ; that I drove War 
afar off among the distant nations, and that Joy accompanied me. 
Two Chiefs made their speech to me on my arrival, but with a 
gladness and cheerfulness of countenance which I never had seen 
among savages. Men, women and children, all were respectful 
an^l friendly. 

At night I called the principal men together to make them two 
presents. The first to wipe their faces, so that they may regard 
me with a kindly eye, and that I may never see a trace of sorrow 
on their foreheads. The second to clear out the little gall which 
they still might have in their hearts. After several other dis- 
courses they retired to consult together, and finally they respond- 
ed to my presents by two other presents richer than mine. 

6th. I was called to divers quarters to administer my medi- 
cine to weakly and hectic little things. I baptized some of them. 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 37 

I confessed some of our old Huron Christians, and found God 
every where, and that He pleased to work himself in hearts 
where faith reigns. He builds himself a temple there, where he 
is adored in spirit and truth. Be He blessed for ever. 

At night our host draws me aside and tells me very affection- 
ately that he always loved us, that final'y his heart was satisfied, 
seeing all the tribes of his nation demanded nothing but peace : 
that the Seneca had recently come to exhort them to manage this 
matter well for peace, and that with that view he had made 
splendid presents : that the Cayuga had brought three belts for 
that purpose, and that the Oneida was glad to be rid of such a 
bad affair through his means, and that he desired nothing but 
peace : that the Mohawk would, no doubt, follow the others, 
and thus I might take courage, since I bore with me the happi- 
ness of the whole land. 

7th. A good Christian named Terese, a Huron captive, wish- 
ing to pour out her soul to me away from noise and in silence, 
invited me to visit her in a field cabin where she lived. My 
God ! What sweet consolation to witness so much faith in sa- 
vage hearts, in captivity, and without other assistance than that 
of heaven. God raises up Apostles every where. This good 
Christian woman had with her a young captive of the neutral na- 
tion (de la Nation Neutre) : whom she loved as her own daugh- 
ter. She had so well instructed her in the mysteries of the 
faith, and in sentiments of piety, in the prayers they made in 
this holy solitude, that I was much surprised. Eh ! sister, I 
asked, why did you not baptise her, since she has the faith like 
you, and she is Christian in her morals, and she wishes to die a 
Christian ? Alas, brother, this happy captive replied, I did not 
think it w r as allowed me to baptise, except in danger of death. 
Baptise her now, yourself, since you consider her worthy, and 
give her my name. This was the first adult baptism at Onon- 
dago ; we are indebted for it to the piety of a Huron. 



38 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONONDAGA, 



GENERAL COUNCIL OF PEACE WITH THE FOUR IROQUOIS 

NATIONS, 

AND THE SUBSEQUENT RETURN OF FATHER SIMON LE MOINE FROM 

HIS VOYAGE. 

[From the Same.] 

On the 10th day of August, the deputies of the three neigh- 
bouring Nations having arrived, after the usual summons of the 
Chiefs that all should assemble in Ondessonk's cabin, I opened 
the proceedings (says the Father, continuing his Journal) by 
public prayer, which I said on my knees and in a loud voire, 
all in the Huron tongue. I invoked the Great Master of heaven 
and of earth to inspire us with what should be for his glory and 
our good ; I cursed all the demons of hell who are spirits of di- 
vision ; I prayed the tutelar angels of the whole country to touch 
the hearts of those who heard me, when my words should strike 
their ear. 

I greatly astonished them when they heard me naming all by 
nations, by tribes, by families and each particular individual of 
any note, and all by aid of my manuscript, which was a matter 
as wonderful as it was new. I told them I Avas the bearer of 
nineteen words to them. 

The first : That it was Onnonthio, M. de Lauzon, Governor of 
New France, who spoke by my mouth, and then the Hurons and 
the Algonquins as well as the French, for all these three nations 
had Onnonthio for their Great Chief. A large belt of wampum, 
one hundred little tubes or pipes of red glass, the diamonds of the 
country, and a caribou's hide being passed : these three present? 
made but one word. 

My second word was, to cut the bonds of the eight Seneca pri- 
soners, taken by our allies and brought to Montreal, as already 
stated. 

The third was, to break the bonds of the Mohegans also, cap- 
tured about the same time. 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 39 

The fourth ; to thank those of Oncntago for having brought 
our prisoner back. 

The fifth present was, to thank the Senecas for having saved 
him from the scaffold. 

The sixth for the Cayuga Iroquois, for having also contributed. 

The seventh, for the Oneidas for having broken the bonds 
which kept him a prisoner. 

The 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th presents to be given to the four 
Iroquois Nations — a hatchet each — for the new war they were 
waging against the Cat Nation. 

The twelfth present was to heal the head of the Seneca who 
had lost some of his people. 

The thirteenth, to strengthen his palissades ; to wit, that he 
may be in a state of defence against the enemy. 

The fourteenth, to ornament his face : for it is the custom of 
warriors here never to go to battle unless with the face painted, 
some black, some red, others with various other colors, each ha- 
ving herein as if particular liveries to which they cling even 
unto death. 

The fifteenth to concentrate all their thoughts. I made three 
presents for this occasion ; one wampum belt, little glass beads 
and an elk hide. 

The sixteenth — I opened Annonchiasse's door to all the Na- 
tions ; that is, they would be welcome among us. 

The seventeenth. I exhorted them to become acquainted with 
the truths of our faith, and made three presents for this object. 

The eighteenth. I asked them not to prepare henceforward 
any ambushes for the Algonquin and Huron Nations, who would 
come to visit us in our French settlement. I made three presents 
for this purpose. 

Finally, by the nineteenth present I wiped away the tears of 
all the young warriors for the death of their great Chief Annen- 
craos, a short time prisoner with the Cat Nation. 

At each present they heaved a powerful ejaculation from the 
bottom of the chest in testimony of their joy. I was full two 
hours making my whole speech, talking like a Chief, and walk- 
ing about like an actor on a stage, as is their custom. 



40 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONOXDAGA, 

After that they grouped together apart in nations and tribes, 
calling to them a Mohawk who by good luck was there They 
consulted together for the space of two hours longer. Finally 
they called me among them and seated me in an honorable place 

The Chief who is the tongue of the country, repeats faithfully 
as orator the substance of all my words. Then all set to singing 
in token of their gratification ; I was told to pray God on my 
side, which I did very willingly. After these songs he spoke to 
me in the name of his Nation. 1. He thanked Onnontio for his 
good disposition towards them, and brought fonvard for this pur 
pose tw r o large belts of wampum. 

2. He thanked us in the name of the Mohawk Iroquois for ha- 
ving given their lives to five of their allies of the Mohegan Na- 
tion. Two other belts for that. 

3. He thanked us in the name of the Seneca Iroquois for ha- 
ving drawn five of their tribe out of the fire. Two more belts. 
Ejaculations from the w T hole assembly follow each present. 

Another Captain of the Oneida Nation rises : Onnontio, said 
he — speaking of M. de Lauzon our Governor — Onnontio thou art 
the pillar of the Earth ; thy spirit is a spirit of peace and thy 
words soften the hearts of the most rebellious spirits. After 
other compliments expressed in a tone animated by love and res- 
pect, he produced four large belts to thank Onnontio for having 
encouraged them to fight bravely against their new enemies of the 
Cat Nation, and for having exhorted them never again to war 
against the French. Thy voice, said he, Onnontio is wonderful, 
to produce in my breast at one time tw T o effects entirely dissimilar; 
thou animatest me to war, and softenest my heart by the thoughts 
of peace ; thou art great both in peace and war, mild to those 
whom thou lovest, and terrible to thine enemies. We wish thee 
to love us, and we will love the French for thy sake. 

In concluding these thanks, the Onontaga Chief took up the 
word. Listen Ondessonk, said he to me ; five entire nations 
speak to thee through my mouth. My breast contains the senti- 
ments of the Iroquois Nations, and my tongue responds faithfully 
to my breast. Thou wilt tell Onnontio four things, the sum of 
all our councils. 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 41 

1. We are willing to acknowledge Him of whom thou hast 
spoken, who is the master of our lives, who is unknown to us. 

2. Our council tree is this clay planted at Onnontaga — meaning 
that that would be, henceforth, the place of their meetings and of 
their negotiations for peace. 

2. We conjure you to select on the banks of our great lake an 
advantageous site for a French settlement. Fix yourself in the 
heart of the country, since you ought to possess our hearts. 
There we shall go for instruction, and from that point you will 
be able to spread yourself abroad in every direction. Be unto us 
careful as fathers and we shall be unto you submissive as children. 

4. We are engaged in new wars ; Onnontio encourages us. 
We shall entertain no other thought towards him than those of 
peace. 

They reserved their richest presents for these last four words ; 
but I can assure you their countenances told more than their 
tongues, and expressed joy mingled with so much mildness that 
my heart was full. What appeared to me most endearing in all 
this was that all our Huron Christians and the captive women, 
lighted this fire which melts the hearts of the Iroquois. They told 
them so much good of us, and spoke so often of the great value 
ot the Faith, that they prize it without being acquainted with it ; 
and they love us in the hope that we shall be for them what we 
have been for the Indians. To return to the Father's Journal: 

The 11th day of August. There is nothing but feasts and re- 
joicings everywhere. A misfortune occurred, however, at night. 
A cabin catching fire, no one knew how, an impetuous wind 
drove the flames to the others, and in less than two hours more 
than twenty w T ere reduced to ashes, and the remainder of the vil- 
lage was in clanger of being burnt. God preserved all hearts 
however in the joy of the preceding day, and their dispositions as 
ealm towards me as if this misfortune had never happened. 

The 12th. Our Christian captives wishing to confess before 
my departure gave me employment, or rather repose which I 
wished for. I baptized a little girl of four years w 7 ho was dying. 
I recovered from the hands of these barbarians, the New Testa- 
ment of the late Father Jean de Brebouf, whom they put to a 



42 FIKST SETTLEMENT OF ONONDAGA, 

cruel death five years ago, and a small book of devotion which 
was used by the late Father Charles Gamier whom they also 
kiiled four years ano. 

* ********* 

The 13th. Came the leave taking. Observing the custom of 
friends on similar occasions, having convoked the Council, I 
made them two presents to console them. And with this view I 
first planted in the name of Achiendasse (which is the appellation 
of the General Superior of all our Society's Missions in these 
countries) the first post on which to begin a cabin. This is like 
laying the first stone in France of a house one intends to build. 
My second present was to throw down the first bark that is to 
cover the cabin. This evidence of affection satisfied them, and 
three of their Chiefs thanked me publicly in speeches which one 
could not be persuaded issued from the lips of men called sava- 
ges. 

********** 

Nevertheless they seek me every where to give me my parting 
feast, all the men and women of consideration being invited in 
my name into our cabin, according to the custom of the country, 
in order to do honor to my departure. We part in good company. 
After the public cry of the Chief, every one vies to carry our lit- 
tle baggage. 

About half a league from there we found a group of old men, 
all Chiefs of the Council, who waited to bid me Adieu hoping 
for my return for which they ardently testified their wishes. 

16th. We arrive at the entrance of a small lake in a large 
half dried basin ; we taste the water of a spring that they durst 
not drink, saying that there is a Demon in it which renders it 
foetid ; having tasted it I found it was a fountain of Salt water ; 
and in fact we made Salt from it as natural as that from the sea ; 
of which we carried a sample to Quebec. This lake abounds in 
fish — in salmon trout and other fish. 

17th. We enter their river, and at a quarter of a league meet 
at the left the Seneca river, which increases this ; it leads, they 
say, to Cayuga (Onioen) and to Seneca in two sunsets. At three 
leagues of a fine road from there, we leave the River Oneida 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 43 

(Oneiout) which appears to us very deep. Finally a good 
league lower down we meet a rapid which gives the name to a 
village of fishermen. I found there some of our Christians and 
some Huron Christian women whom I had not yet seen. 

19th. We proceed on our journey on the same river which is 
of a fine width and deep throughout, except some shoals where 
we must get into the water and draw the canoe lest the rocks 
break it. 

20. We arrive at the Great Lake, Ontario, called the Lake 
of the Iroquois. 

21. This lake is in a fury in consequence of the violence of 
the winds after a storm of rain. 

22. Coasting quietly the shores of this Great Lake, my sailors 
kill with a shot from a gun, a large stag : my companion and I 
content ourselves looking at them broiling their stakes, it being 
Saturday, a day of abstinence for us. 

23. We arrive at the place which is fixed on for our house 
and a French settlement. Beautiful prairies, good fishing ; a 
resort of all Nations. There I found new Christians who con- 
fessed themselves and furnished me with devotion in their senti- 
ments of piety. 

24 and 25. Being windbound, one of our canoes foundered 
on the 26, our sailors having embarked before the tempest had 
abated, and we thought we should have perished — finally we east 
ourselves on an island where we dried ourselves at our leisure. 

27. In the evening a little lull afforded us time to regain the 
main land. 

28 and 29. The chase stops our sailors who are in the best 
possible humor ; for flesh is the paradise of the man of flesh. 

30 and last of August. The rain and wind seriously inconve- 
nience poor travellers, who having worked all day are badly pro- 
vided for at night. 

1 st day of Sept. I never saw so many deer, but we had no 
inclination to hunt. My companion killed three as if against his 
will. What a pity ! for we left all the venison there, reserving 
the hides and some of the most delicate morsels. 



44 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONONDAGA, 

2 J of the month. Travelling through vast prairies, we saw in 
divers quarters immense herds of wild bulls and cows ; their horns 
resemble in some respect the antlers of the stag. 

3' 1 and 4 ,h . Our game does not leave us ; it seems that veni- 
son and game follow us every where. Droves of twenty cows 
plunge into the water as if to meet us. Some are killed, for sake 
of amusement, by blows of an axe. 

5. In one day we travel over the road which took us two long 
days ascending the rapids and breakers. 

6. Our Sault St. Louis frightens my folks. They land me 
four leagues above the settlement of Montreal, and God gave me 
sufficient strength to arrive before noon, and to celebrate mass, of 
which I was deprived during my whole voyage. 

7. I proceed and descend to Three Rivers where my sailors 
desire to go. We arrived at Quebec on the eleventh day of the 
month of September of this year, 1654. 



JOURNAL OF WHAT OCCURRED BETWEEN THE FRENCH 
AND SAVAGES. 

[Relation, &c. 1657 and 1658.] 

The word Onnota, which signifies, in the Iroquois tongue, a 
Mountain, has given the name to the village called Onnontae, or 
as others call it, Onnontague, because it is on a mountain ; and 
the people who inhabit it consequently style themselves Onnon- 
tae-ronnons, or Onnontague-ronnons. These people have for a 

long time and earnestly demanded that some priests of our 
1655. Society be sent to their country. Finally, Father Joseph 

Chaumont and Father Claude Dablon were granted to 
ihem, in the year 1655. They embarked on the 19 th Sept., and 
anived at Onnontagu6 the 5 th November of the same year 1655. 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 45 

These two good fathers rinding themselves listened to 
1656. with approval and kindness, Father Dablon left Onnonta 
gue on the second day of March of the following year 

1656, to look for help at Quebec, where he arrived in the begin 
ning of April, and departed thence on the 17th May, in company 
with three Fathers and two brothers of the Society, and a good num- 
ber of Frenchmen, who all proceeded towards this new country, 
where they arrived on the 1 1 th day of July of the same year, 1656. 

In the year 1657, the harvest appearing plentiful in all 

1657. the villages of the upper Iroquois, the common people 
listening to the words of the gospel with simplicity and the 

Chiefs with a well disguised dissimulation, Father Paul Rague- 
neau, Father Francois Du Peron, some Frenchmen and several 
Hurons, departed from Montreal the 26 th July, to aid their bre- 
thren and compatriots. 

On the 3 d day of the month of August of the same year 1657, 
the perfidy of the Iroquois began to develop itself by the massa- 
cre which they made of the poor Hurons whom they brought into 
their country, after thousands of protestations of kindness and 
thousands of oaths, in their style, that they should treat them as 
brothers. And had not a number of Iroquois remained among 
the French, near Quebec, to endeavor to bring with them the rest 
of the Hurons, who distrusting these traitors, would not embark 
with the others, the Fathers and the Frenchmen who ascended 
with them would have then been destroyed ; and all those who 
remained on the banks of Lake Ganantaa, near to Onnontague, 
would shortly after have shared the same fate. But the fear that 
the French would wreak vengeance on their countrymen, staid theii 
design,of which our fathers had had secret intelligence immediately 
on their arrival in the country. Even a captain who was acquainted 
with the secret of the Chiefs, having taken some liking to the 
preachings of the Gospel, and finding himself very sick, demand- 
ed Baptism ; having received it with sufficient instruction, he dis- 
covered the evil designs of his countrymen to those who attended 
him, and went a short time afterwards to Heaven. 

The 9 th of the month of September. Our fathers at Onnonta 



46 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONONDAGA, 

gu5 sent two canoes to Quebec with intelligence of the massacre 
of the poor Pluron Christians, treacherously put to death by these 
barbarians, as we remarked above, 3 August of the year 1657. 

The 7 th of the month of November. Two Mohawks departed 

from Quebec, and took a third at Three Rivers A 

number of letters from divers quarters were given to them for 
Father Le Moine, part of which were to be sent to our Fathers 
and our French of Onnontagui thro' the medium of the Mo- 
hawks, who often go to that country. 

###### 

It is true that the Mohawks faithfully delivered the letteis to 
Ondessonk, because they feared evil for their people detained by 
the French. But for the letters addressed to our French at On- 
nontague, the Mohawk who was the bearer thereof, threw them 
in the river, or gave them, probably, to the chiefs of the country. 
But these good fellows, who wished to rid themselves of the preach- 
ers of the gospel and of those who assisted them, threw them into 
the fire. 

The Onnontague sent by ^'onsieur de Maisonneuve did 
still w T orse : for he told the chiefs of the nation, that the French 
were leagued principally with the Algonquins to make war on 
them, anil that they had killed his comrade. It was an Algon- 
quin killed him on his way to war as we have remarked on the 
3 d November. Nothing more was necessary to excite these furious 
men, who had already concluded on the death of some and the 
captivity of others. They were desirous, however, to act in con- 
cert with the Mohawks, who could, no more than the others, re- 
concile themselves to the detention of their people, believing it 
very unjust. 

Our poor French were, meanwhile, much astonished at re- 
ceiving no certain news either from Quebec, Three Rivers, or 
Montreal. These barbarians had entirely cut off all communi- 
cation, so that Mons r . de Dailleboust's orders were not deliv- 
ered to Mons r . "Du Puis, who commanded the soldiers, nor a 
letter to any of the French whomsoever. 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 47 



OF THE RETURN OF OUR FATHERS AND OF OUR FRENCH- 
MEN FROM THE COUNTRY OF THE ONNONTAGUES. 

[From the same.] 

Though it be true that the Iroquois are subtle, adroit and great 
cheats, I nevertheless cannot persuade myself that they possess so 
much intelligence, so much tact, and that they are such great poli- 
ticians as to have had recourse to the ruses and intrigues imputed 
to them to destroy the French, the Hurons, the Algonquins, and 
their allies. 

They urged for many years with incredible persistence ; with 
evidences of especial affection and even with threats of rupture 
and war, if their friendship were despised and their demand reject- 
ed ; they insisted, I say, and solicited that a goodly number of 
French should accompany them into their country, the one to 
instruct, the others to protect them against their enemies, as a 
token of peace and alliance with them. 

The Mohawks desired to thwart this scheme ; they fought the 
one against the other even unto polluting the earth with blood 
and murder. Some believed that all that was mere feint, the better 
to mask their game ; but it would seem to me not a very pleasant 
game when the stakes are life and blood. I strongly doubt that 
Iroquoy policy should extend so far as that, and that Barbarians 
who repose but little confidence in each other, should so long 
conceal their intrigues. I believe rather that the Onnontague Iro- 
quois demanded some Frenchmen in sincerity, but with views very 
different. The Chiefs finding themselves engaged in heavy wars 
against a number of nations whom they had provoked, asked for 
Hurons as reinforcements to their warriors ; they wished for the 
French to obtain firearms from them, and to repair those which 
might be broken. Further, as the Mohawks treated them some- 
times very ill when passing through their villages to trade with 
the Dutch, they were anxious to rise out of this dependence in 



4S FIRST SETTLEMENT OF ONONDAGA, 

opening a trade with the French. This is not all, the fate of 
arms being fickle, they demanded that our Frenchmen should erect 
a vast fort in their country to serve as a retreat for them, or at least 
(or their wives and children in case their enemies pressed too 
close on them. Here are the views of ihe Iroquois politicians. 
The common people did not penetrate so far ahead ; curiosity to 
see strangers come from such a distance, the hope of deriving 
some little profit, created a desire to see them ; but the Christian 
Hurons and captives among the people, and those who approved 
their lives and conversations which they sometimes held regarding 
our belief, breathed nothing in the world so much as the coming 
of Preachers of the Gospel who had brought them forth unto 
lesus Christ. 

But so soon as the Captains and Chiefs became masters of their 
enemies, having crushed all the Nations who had attacked them ; 
so soon as they believed that nothing could resist their arms, the 
recollection of the wrongs they pretended to have formerly 
experienced from the Hurons; the glory of triumphing over Euro- 
peans as well as Americans, caused them to take the resolution to 
revenge themselves on the one and destroy the other ; so that at 
the very moment they saw the dreaded Cat Nation subjugated by 
their arms and by the power of the Senecas, their allies, they 
would have massacred all the French at Onnontague, were it not 
that they pretended to make use of them as a decoy to attract 
some Hurons and to massacre them as they had already done. And 
if the influence of some of their tribe, then resident at Quebec, had 
not staid them, the path to Onnontague had become the tomb to 
Frenchmen as well as to Hurons, as will be seen hereafter. From 
that time forth our people, having discovered their conspiracy, 
and perceived that their death was concluded on, bethought them 
on their retreat, which shall be described in the following letter. 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 49 



FATHER PAUL RAGUENEAU 

TO THE REV. FATHER JACQUES RENAULT, PROVINCIAL OF THE SOCIETY 
OF JESUS IN THE PROVINCE OF FRANCE. 

Pax Christ i. 
My R. Father, 

The present is to inform Y. R. of our return from the Iroquob 
mission, loaded with some spoils rescued from Hell. We bear 
in our hands more than five hundred children and a number of 
adults, the most part of whom died after Baptism. We have re- 
established Faith and piety in the hearts of a poor captive church, 
the first foundations of which we had laid in the Huron Country. 
We have proclaimed the gospel unto all the Iroquois Nations so 
that they are henceforth without excuse, and God will be fully 
justified against them at the great day of judgment. 

The Devil enraged at seeing us reap so fine a harvest and en- 
joy so amply the fruits of our enterprise, made use of the incon- 
stancy of the Iroquois to drive us from the centre of his estates; 
for these Barbarians, without other motive than to follow their 
volatile humor, renewed the war against the French, the first 
blows of which were discharged on our worthy Christian Hurons, 
who went up with us to Onnontague at the close of the last 
summer, and who were cruelly massacred in our arms and in 
our bosom by the most signal treason imaginable. They then 
made prisoners of their poor wives and even burned some of 
them with their children of three and four years, at a slow fire. 

This bloody execution was followed by the murder of three 
Frenchmen at Montreal by the Oneidas, who scalped them and 
carried these as if in triumph into their villages in token of de- 
clared war. This act of hostility having obliged M. Dailleboust, 
then commanding in this country, to cause a dozen of Iroquois, 
in part Onnontagues and mostly Mohawks, to be arrested and 
put in irons at Montreal, Three Rivers and Quebec, where they 
.happened to be at the time, both Iroquois Nations became irri- 
4 



50 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONONDAGA, 

tated at this detention of their people, pretending that it was 
unjust ; and to cruelly avenge themselves convoked a secret 
Council where they formed the scheme of an implacable war 
against the French. Yet, they judged it fitting to dissimulate 
for some time until through the return of Father Simon Le 
Moine, then with the Mohawks, they should have obtained the 
delivery of their folks who were in irons. In that Council they 
even looked on our persons as precious hostages, either for the 
exchange of some of their tribe who were in prison, or obtain- 
ment of whatever pleased them when within view of our French 
settlements they should make us feel the effects of their cruelty; 
doubting not that these horrible spectacles and the lamentations of 
forty and fifty innocent Frenchmen would touch with compassion 
and distress the Governor and inhabitants of what place so ever. 

We were only privately acquainted with these disastrous de- 
signs of the Iroquois, but we openly saw their spirits prepared 
for war ; and in the month of February divers bands took the 
field for that purpose, 200 Mohawks on the one side, 40 Oneidas 
on the other ; some Onnontague" warriors had already gone for- 
ward whilst the main body of the army was assembling. 

We could not expect, speaking humanly, to extricate from 
these dangers, by which we were surrounded on all sides, some 
fifty Frenchmen who had entrusted to us their lives and for 
whom we should feel ourselves responsible before God and men. 
What distressed us the most was, not so much the flames into 
which a part of our Frenchmen would be cast, as the unfortunate 
captivity to which the most of them w T ere destined by the Iro- 
quois, in which the salvation of their souls was more to be 
dreaded than the loss of their bodies. This is what the greater 
number most especially apprehended, who already seeing them- 
selves prisoners, coveted rather the stroke of the hatchet or even 
the flames, than this captivity. They were determined in order 
to avoid this last misfortune, even to risk all and to fly each, his 
way in the woods, to perish there of hunger and wretchedness or 
to attempt to reach some of the French settlements. 

In these circumstances so precipitous, our Fathers and I and a 
gentleman named Monsieur du Puys, who commanded all our 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 51 

Frenchmen and a garrison of soldiers, nine of whom had already 
of themselves resolved to abandon us, concluded that it would 
be better to withdraw in a body, either to encourage one another 
to die or to sell life more dearly. For that reason it became 
necessary to depart without breathing a syllable about it ; for the 
least suspicion that the Iroquois would have had of our retreat, 
would hurry down on us the disaster we would avoid. But how 
hope to be able to depart without being discovered, being in the 
heart of the country, and always beset by a number of these Bar- 
barians who left not our house so as to watch our countenances 
m this conjuncture ? It is true they never imagined that we 
should have had the courage to undertake this exploit, knowing 
well that we had neither canoes, nor sailors, and that we were 
unacquainted with the paths topped by precipices where a dozen 
Iroquois could easily defeat us: Besides, the season was insup- 
portable on account of the cold of the frozen water through 
which, under all circumstances, the canoes were to be dragged, 
throwing ourselves into the river and remaining there entire 
hours, sometimes up to the neck, and w r e never had undertaken 
such expeditions without having savages for guides. 

Notwithstanding these obstacles which appeared insurmounta- 
ble to them as well as to us, God, who holds in His hands all the 
moments of our lives, so happily inspired us with all that was 
necessary to be done, that having departed on the 20 th day of 
March from our house of Ste. Marie, near Onnontague,at eleven 
o'clock at night, His divine providence guiding us, as if by a 
continued miracle, in the midst of all imaginable dangers, we ar- 
rived at Quebec on the 23 d of the month of April, having passed 
Montreal and Three Rivers before any canoe could be launched, 
the river not having been open for navigation until the very day 
that we made our appearance. 

From the same to the same. 

Your Rev. will be glad to learn the particulars of our depart- 
ure from Ste. Marie of the Iroquois. * 

The resolution being taken to quit that country where God took 
through us, the small number of his disciples, the difficulties ap- 



52 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONONDAGA, 

peared insurmountable in their execution for which every thing 
failed us. 

To supply the want of canoes, we had built, in secret, two 
Batteaux of a novel and excellent structure to pass the rapids ; 
these batteaux drew but very little water and carried considera- 
ble freight, fourteen or fifteen men each, amounting to fifteen to 
sixteen hundred weight. We had moreover four Algonquin and 
four Iroquois canoes, which were to compose our little fleet of 
fifty-three Frenchmen. 

But the difficulty was to embark unperceived by the Iroquois 
who constantly beset us. The batteaux, canoes and all the equi- 
page could not be conveyed without great noise, and yet without 
secrecy there was nothing to be expected save a general massacre 
of all of us the moment it would be discovered that we enter- 
tained the least thought of withdrawing. 

On that account we invited all the Savages in our neighbour- 
hood to a solemn feast at which we employed all our industry, 
and spared neither the noise of drums nor instruments of music, 
to deceive them by harmless device. He who presided at this 
ceremony played his part with so much address and success, that 
all were desirous to contribute to the publick joy: Every one 
vied in uttering the most piercing cries, now of war, anon of re- 
joicing. The Savages, through complaisance, sung and danced 
after the French fashion and the French in the Indian style. To 
encourage them the more in this fine play, presents were distri- 
buted among those who acted best their parts and who made the 
greatest noise to drown that caused by about forty of our people 
outside who were engaged in removing all our equipage. The 
embarcation being completed', the feast was concluded at a fixed 
time ; the guests retired, and sleep having soon overwhelmed 
them, we withdrew from our house by a back door and embarked 
with very little noise, without bidding adieu to the Savages, who 
were acting cunning parts and were thinking to amuse us to the 
hour of our massacre with fair appearances and evidences of 
good will. 

Our little Lake on which we silently sailed in the darkness of 
the night, froze according as we advanced and caused us to fear 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 53 

being stopt by the ice after having evaded the fires of the Iroquois. 
God, however, delivered us, and after having advanced all night 
and all the following day through frightful precipices and water- 
falls, we arrived finally in the evening at the great Lake Ontario, 
twenty leagues from the place of our departure. This first day 
was the most dangerous, for had the Iroquois observed our de- 
parture they would have intercepted us, and had they been ten or 
twelve it would have been easy for them to have thrown us into 
disorder, the river being very narrow, and terminating after tra- 
velling ten leagues in a frightful precipice where we were obliged 
to land and carry our baggage and canoes during four hours, 
through unknown roads covered with a thick forest which could 
have served the enemy for a Fort, whence at each step he could 
have struck and fired on us without being perceived. God's 
protection visibly accompanied us during the remainder of the 
road, in which we walked through perils which made us shudder 
after we escaped them, having at night no other bed except 
the snow after having passed entire days in the water and amid 
the ice. 

Ten days after our departure we found Lake Ontario on which 
we floated, still frozen at its mouth. We were obliged to break 
the ice, axe in hand, to make an opening, to enter two days af- 
terwards a rapid where our little fleet had well nigh foun- 
dered. For having entered a Great Sault without knowing it, 
we found ourselves in the midst of breakers which, meeting a 
quantity of big rocks, threw up mountains of water and cast us 
on as many precipices as we gave strokes of paddles. Our bat- 
tcaux which drew scarcely half a foot, Were soon filled with wa- 
ter and all our people in such confusion, that their cries mingled 
with the roar of the torrent presented to us the spectacle of a 
dreadful wreck. It became imperative, however, to extricate 
ourselves, the violence of the current dragging us despite our- 
sj Ives into the large rapids and through passes in which we had 
never been. Terror redoubled at the sight of one of our canoes 
being engulfed in a breaker which barred the entire rapid and 
which, notwithstanding, was the course that all the others must 
keen. Three Frenchmen were drowned there, a fourth fortu- 



54 FIRST SETTLEMENT AT ONONDAGA, 

nately escaped, having held on to the canoe and being saved at 
the foot of the Sault when at the point of letting go his hold, his 
strength being exhausted. * * * * The 3d of 
April we landed at Montreal, in the beginning of the night. 

You noticed above how our Fathers and our Frenchmen 

withdrew from their habitation built on the banks of Lake Ganan- 
taa, near Onnontaguo. That happened at night, and without 
noise and with so mudh address, that the Iroquois, who cabined 
at the doors of our house, never perceived the removal of the ca- 
noes and batteaux and bagage which were launched, nor the em- 
barcation of fifty-three persons. Sleep in which they were deep- 
ly enveloped, after considerable singing and dancing, deprived 
them of all consciousness ; but at length night having given place 
to day, darkness to light, sleep to awaking, these Barbarians left 
their cabins, and roving round our well locked house, were as- 
tonished at the profound silence of the Frenchmen. They saw 
no one going out to work ; they heard no voice. They thought 
at first that they were all at prayer, or in council, but the day 
advancing and these prayers not getting to an end, they knocked 
at the door. The dogs, which our Frenchmen designedly left 
behind, answered by barking. The cock's crow which they heard 
in the morning and the noise of the dogs, made them think that 
the masters of these animals were not far off ; they recovered the 
patience which they had lost. But at length the sun began to 
decline and no person answering neither to the voice of men nor 
to the cries of animals, they scaled the house to see the condition 
of our people in this terrible silence. Astonishment now gave 
place to fright and trouble. They open the door ; the chiefs 
enter every where ; ascend the garret ; descend to the cellar ; 
not a Frenchman makes his appearance dead or alive. They re- 
gard one another — terror seizes them ; they imagine they have to 
do with Devils. They saw no batteau, and even if they saw it 
they could not imagine that our Frenchmen would be so ra^* 
as to precipitate themselves into rapids and breakers, among 
rocks and horrible dangers in which themselves though very ex- 
pert in passing through Saults and Cascades, often lose their 



AND DISCOVERY OF THE SALT SPRINGS. 55 

'fives. They persuade themselves either that they walked on the 
waves, or fled through the air ; or as seemed most probable, that 
they concealed themselves in the woods. They seek for them ; 
nothing appears. They are quasi convinced that they rendered 
themselves invisible ; and as they suddenly departed, so will they 
•pounce as suddenly on their village. 






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